Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denied on the record that he had ever used cocaine with French President Emmanuel Macron, laughing and replying "Of course not" when put the question directly by US far-right influencer Laura Loomer during an interview in Kyiv on July 24, according to Ukrainska Pravda, which had access to the exchange.

The unfounded claim has circulated for months in pro-Russian and MAGA-aligned online circles and was amplified by broadcaster Tucker Carlson, who conducted a widely-watched interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2024. Zelenskiy told Loomer he does not watch Carlson's interviews and, addressing the wider push by online figures to accuse him of drug use as part of what he described as a Russian propaganda effort, called those pushing the claims "crazy people".

Loomer, a Trump ally with some 2mn followers on X who had previously called Ukraine a "country full of Nazi apologists" led by a "Jihadi apologist", travelled to Kyiv this week in a marked reversal of her past position, telling Zelenskiy she had "come to realise I was bamboozled by Russian propaganda".

The interview, conducted at the Mariinskyi Palace, also touched on the state of Zelenskiy's relationship with Trump, which he described as "better and really good" since the two met on the sidelines of Pope Francis's funeral at the Vatican in 2025, a marked change from the heated Oval Office exchange between the two leaders earlier that year.

"The tone has changed, absolutely," Zelenskiy said, recalling the Vatican meeting as a turning point after "we changed the relations during 15 to 20 minutes".

Zelenskiy is due to travel to Washington the following week for the funeral of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, where he expects to see Trump again.